


Somewhere Only We Know

by Valsnotebook



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, Slow Burn, a bit of angst, a bit of general confusion, but not just the typical ones, kind of, lots of ice skaters, pride and prejudice au, there's going to be skating, title might change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valsnotebook/pseuds/Valsnotebook
Summary: "Suddenly, everything made sense again: her sister was talking with her mother, her father was reading on the chair near the window; this was her life. But at the same time, it wasn’t: it’s like she had memories of two parallel lives, two different set of experiences. One with skating, Scott, and technology; the other seemed to be part of a Jane Austen story."or, the Pride and Prejudice AU I'm not sure I'm qualified to write.





	1. Chapter 1

 

Tessa woke up feeling slightly dizzy: she had hoped that after finishing the never ending tour of shows after the Olympics she’d finally get the chance to sleep in, but apparently she was not that lucky, as she could hear at least three people speaking rather loudly outside of her bedroom and the sunlight was shining everywhere… had she not closed the curtains last night?

She tried to force herself to fall back asleep, keeping her eyes shut, but after a few minutes she gave up. She opened her eyes and slowly realized that the walls she found weren’t the ones she was expecting. The second thing she noticed was that she was wearing a full old style nightgown, and not her usual t-shirt & leggings pajama. The third thing she noticed was her bed, that looked like something she’d find in her great grandma house, and all the furnishings in her room: the very 18th century style wooden closet, a dressing table with a washbasin, a small desk with a fancy chair and some books on it, and… another bed next to hers? Right, with a nightstand in between.

Anxious to understand what was going on, she got up and moved in front of the big mirror next to the closet. She did and did not recognize herself at the same time: her face looked like she was 16, but what baffled her the most was the shape of her body: she raised her gown, and her petticoat (what?!) until she could finally take a look at her bare stomach and legs, or what little skin she could see under the very big underwear she had on. She couldn’t find a muscle on her. Her stomach was flat, her legs slender, but there was no sign of the hours and hours and hours spent in training. Even if for some reason she was somehow back to being 16 years old again, that was not her body. Her shoulders were smaller. 

She could feel the panic rising, but another part of her accepted the news as if she already expected it. She let her gown fall, and put on the slippers she found next to her bed. She decided that before panicking she was going to see what was the point of all of this, but to be sure she was in a 100% percent old house like she suspected, she checked the whole perimeter of the room, looking for any electrical outlet in the walls. Which she didn’t find, obviously.

When she passed in front of the dressing table, she found a double of everything you would need to get ready: two hair brushes, some hairpins neatly placed in two small boxes and other toiletries.

 

Almost automatically, she picked one brush she knew it was hers, and tried to fix her hair as best as she could before she made her way outside the room. She found herself in a house that she knew, even though it wasn’t her real house. She easily made her way to the dining room, where she found her parents and her sister having breakfast. That view woke her up: they weren’t the family she had back in Canada, but she just knew they were still her family. As she looked at her sister, she suddenly remembered her whole life in this house, in particular she remembered staying up late last night chatting with her about the upcoming ball. Suddenly, everything made sense again: her sister was talking with her mother, her father was reading on the chair near the window; this was her life. But at the same time, it wasn’t: it’s like she had memories of two parallel lives, two different set of experiences. One with skating, Scott, and technology; the other seemed to be part of a Jane Austen story. She lived in a small town in the countryside of England with another pair of parents and a sister who didn’t look like Jordan at all, and yet looked like someone she knew personally in both worlds. Someone she had seen a lot, but not talked to that much: she was a little shorter than Tessa, dark hair and blue eyes, pale skin, just as thin as her, and elegance in every move. Looking at her, she remembered the laughs, the days spent together in the summer, but it was like she was missing something, like this person belonged to another reality. Same thing went for her parents. She literally had memories of two different lives, and if that wasn’t strange enough, she knew she had to act like nothing was happening. She had the feeling that she must not show to anyone what she was thinking about, kind of like a very important unspoken rule, and it just came natural. 

“Good morning Tessa, are you feeling better?”

Right, because last night she had faked an headache to avoid talking to her mother about the guy that tried to court her and that she had turned down at the last ball. She can only remember the fact that he was too cocky for his own good. 

“Yes mother, I probably just needed some rest”. 

Her mother smiled a little and nodded, before going back to her tea. Tessa sat next to her sister, Anna. 

The fact that her brain was just calmly accepting the whole situation was the thing that worried her the most. What was even happening? How could she know? 

They smiled at each other, and ate their breakfast in silence. The rest of the day went much smoother: the more she interacted with her sister, or her mother, or the maid, the more she remembered everything from this reality more clearly. So clearly that it was easier to put the whole ‘I’m from the future of another world’ thing in a box: there was no reality superior to the other, Anna was just as much as her sister as Jordan, they had grown up together as well, so she let herself lose in this universe without overthinking it anymore.

 

By five in the afternoon, she and Anna started to get ready for the ball of that night: they both loved to dance and have fune, and if there was no one they thought worthy of their attention, they'd just dance together or with their friends. They were both very excited, as the party was going to be at Tessa’s best friend’s, Kaitlyn, house. As Anna was doing Tessa’s hair, they were commenting, as usual, about the crowd they were going to meet there. 

“Do you think you’ll dance with Luca again tonight?”

“I don’t know, I think he might ask me… but I don’t know what I’ll say”

“What? You always have so much fun with him, he’s like your best friend. You’re even call each other by your first name”

“I know, but I get the feeling he’s expecting something more now. I mean, I’m 18 and he’s 20. He probably expects us to be engaged soon, and I don’t know how to feel about that. We’ve known each other for years as friends, I don’t know if I can see him with different eyes…”

“I understand, but he has a good heart. He’d be very good to you: I'm just saying, think about it”

“I know, I know…” 

And now that there was a frown on Anna’s face, instead of her usual bright smile, Tessa felt something twitch in her stomach: both because she felt sorry for her sister and also because she had the same feeling that she wasn’t really her sister. Suddenly the other universe felt much more real than the one she was in, and by that point she was just overwhelmed by all of it. 

“But enough about me: do you think you’d say yes to Mr. Handsome if he asked you to dance tonight?”

“Mr who?” 

“Oh you know, the mysterious boy everyone was talking about because he’s just recently moved here with his very rich family… every girl hoped to dance with him but he asked you first, and you not so gently turned him down. Rings any bell?”

“Yes, of course, I wouldn’t say he deserves such a name as handsome, but...”

“You can’t deny he’s rather beautiful. And, if he asks you again tonight, you might even come to learn his actual name. He seemed pretty heartbroken last time”

“I’m not so sure about that…” She vaguely remembers the encounter, mostly because she almost got mad at the attitude of the boy. A soon as he had seen her he had made his way to her with a grin on his face, asking her to dance without even introducing himself. She really wasn’t interested in men so full of themselves, and she hoped she wouldn’t have to deal with that again. 

Her hair was done, and now it was her turn to do her sister’s: she decided to lead the conversation to more neutral topics, avoiding the doubt in the back of her mind and the unsettling feeling she got by thinking about the boy from the last party.

  
  


Kaitlyn was waiting for them by the stairs as soon as they entered her house, beautiful as always. After Tessa and Anna said hi to her parents, the three of them made their way to the ballroom, where the musicians had already started playing and a few people were calmly dancing in the centre of the room. Kaitlyn had to go back and welcome other guests, so Tessa and Anna sat by themselves at a small table, looking around to see if some of their friends had arrived yet. 

It wasn’t long before Kaitlyn came back to them with some mutual friends, including Luca. It also wasn’t long before Luca and Anna, after exchanging some jokes, made their way to the dance floor. Tessa looked at them dancing, and for the first time she finally realized where she knew Anna from: they were the italian couple, the one that did Carmen the same year as she and Scott. They also entered the senior competitions in 2006/2007 season, and never missed any Olympics or Worlds ever since. They basically met in almost every single competition. That’s why she felt like she knew Anna, even though they were never really close. She quickly turned around and wondered if there were other people from this world that she knew from the other. Were her parents also ice skaters? 

She tried to postpone those thoughts to when she'd go to bed later. 

A waltzer started playing, and for the first time she longed for Scott presence: how could she have not thought about him before? If Scott had been here, she would have just turned to him and made a joke about how it wasn’t really their strongest dance. But he wasn’t, just like no one that could understand her was there with her. She was all alone trapped in another life.

Just as the weight of this epiphany started to settle in her brain, causing all alarms to go off, someone appeared in her view, on the other side of the room. He was tall, dark longish hair pulled back, strong jawline, broad shoulders and eyes fixed on her, looking almost desperate waiting for her to stare back at him. He was the boy that asked her to dance last time. Even from far away, she could read how anxious he was right now, the smug grin she remembered replaced with a tense frown. Without even thinking about it, without even telling her friends, she started pacing towards him, trying not to run. He didn’t even blink as he kept staring at her, his expression turning almost hopeful and bitter at the same time. 

She was now in front of him, not really sure why or what she was supposed to do next. He raised his hand with a silent question on his face, his charming smile immediately plastered on his lips, like he was trying his best not to show his emotions, but still something twinkling in his eyes. 

She just took it, without speaking a word either, and as they made their way to the dance floor everything made sense: suddenly she felt like she could breathe again.

_ Scott. _


	2. Chapter 2

 

_ Scott. _

 

Of course it was Scott, how had she not recognized him before? Scott, right there with her, standing tall and almost proud of having her on his side. They walked next to the other couples and Scott gently moved Tessa in position to start dancing, waiting for the music to start. He was still smiling at her, with what she knew that was his flirting smile and she couldn’t help but smile back a little, her heart full of hope for having found her partner. But before one of them could say something, the music started again and it was time to dance.

 

They danced effortlessly across the room, both silent and yet in perfect unison: as they went on, though, the excitement of having found Scott quickly disappeared when she realized how they were dancing just like any other couple, just like she had learned in this reality. They’ve never been so far from each other while dancing: his hand on her back was appropriately very high and his touch was the lightest of all, almost as if he was afraid to rest his hand on her dress. Her own touch wasn’t much different, her hand levitating over his shoulder, only the fingertips caressing the fabric of his suit. 

Their other hands were joint together, but even there it was just Tessa’s hand laying on Scott’s, not actually holding each other. His expression was now less cocky and more focused on leading Tessa through the dance, as if his life depended on it, but at least a gentle smile would often appear.

The more they danced, the more she started to notice that some people were looking at them, some girls patently jealous, others entertained, and her sister just had the biggest grin on her face whenever they ended up near on the dance floor. But she quickly forgot about that when she felt the warmth of Scott’s hand caressing her back, and she gripped his shoulder in response, and for a second they looked at each other with a new sparkle in their eyes, and there she knew…  _ it’s him, it’s really him _ .

But then he made her spin and they went back to being miles apart.

When the music ended for a small break they both stopped moving and stared at each other for a few seconds, catching their breath, and Tessa didn’t know what to say. She desperately wanted to believe that this was Scott, her Scott, the one she had shared her life with, but then he hadn’t said anything or had made no sign of recognizing her as anything except as the girl from last time. It’s not like Anna had talked about skating, so why would Scott? 

_ Oh my God, he doesn’t remember.  _

He was right there in front of her, but now his hands were down at his sides, and he was looking at Tessa’s hand that was still on his shoulder, his eyebrow raised and an amused looked on his face. He looked like he was about to say something, but she couldn’t handle that, couldn’t handle hearing him talk like everyone else, clueless of their history together. 

Before he could say a word, she removed her hand, bowed quickly and turned away, walking as fast as possible towards the nearest exit. If she previously thought that being alone in this was a nightmare, being in Scott’s company and not being with  _ Scott _ was going to be hell.

 

 

She looked back to make sure no one was following her, and then slipped out on a small balcony to catch some air: her eyes were burning with tears and the more she thought about Scott, the more she felt sick about not being able to be with him like she wanted to. While trying to calm herself with a few deep breaths, she realized she wasn’t alone. In the dark she could see another man resting his head against the wall, looking at her with sad eyes and worry on his face.

“Tessa, is everything alright?”

Oh, it was Luca. What was Luca doing here? Wasn’t he dancing with Anna just before?

“Yes, I… I just needed some air” She tried to answer, but as she spoke her voice cracked at the end of the sentence and she had to cover her face with her hands to recollect herself. 

“Oh, don’t… what happened? Did Mr. Moir do something?”

“Mr. Moir?”

“Yes, last time I saw you, you were dancing with him”

“Oh, no, he... didn’t do anything, I’m just… I’m not feeling well.”

Luca had now come closer to her as if he wanted to comfort her, but didn’t know how, so he just caressed her forearm.

Tessa wiped away her tears and tried to smile reassuringly at him. He smiled back, but when another frown appeared on his face she wondered if something else had happened.

“Luca, are you okay?” 

He didn’t answer right away, looking down at his feet.

“I… was here with your sister to catch some air, and brought up the subject of a possible engagement, but she…” and now he was the one who couldn’t even end his sentence.

_ Oh. _ Tessa stood there for an awkward moment, not knowing what to do: she knew this was Luca, a skater she barely knew, but he was also  _ Luca _ , her neighbour and a childhood friend she had come to think of as a brother. So she did the only thing that felt right, and hugged him. He was quick to hug her back, not ashamed to receive her comfort.

“She… she deeply cares for you, you know? We both do.”

“Yes, I know, I do too, I just thought… but it doesn’t matter anymore.”

She patted him on the back before they loosened the hug and he quickly wiped away a tear that had slipped on his cheek. He gave her a small smile and offered his arm, nodding towards the entrance.

“I think we should head back, you sister is probably looking for you.” 

As they stepped back they found Scott, hands in his pockets, staring at them: he wasn’t smiling anymore, his eyes were dark, and he was tightening his jaw. He shook his head and continued on walking to the opposite end of the corridor from where they were going, leaving Tessa speechless. She might have not known this Scott, but she knew that look: he was angry. But why?

And then she noticed that her hand was still resting on Luca’s arm and that from where Scott was standing, he had probably seen them hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... jealous Scott just kinda happened before I even knew it. And I apologize for the short chapter, I just need to get the story started. It might feel a little rushed and I apologize, but there's certain key points of the story I want to get to ahaha.
> 
> Thank to all of those who left comments and/or kudos on the last chapter, as always any feedback is very very welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> So this had been on my mind for a while, and I just wanted to try it out. I haven't been consistent with other long mainly because I didn't feel inspired to continue, but I feel so excited about this one that I really wanted to try. 
> 
> You're obviously very welcome to let me know what you think so far!  
> (and I mean, please leave some kind of feedback, even bad if you didn't like it, just to let me know)
> 
> Disclaimer n°1: English is not my native language, so if you noticed a mistake here an there please let me know, it would help me a lot to improve my writing skills (I have an english certification exam soon).
> 
> Disclaimer n°2: I don't know if I'm going to specify exactly what year they're in, I still have to think if I should for plot purposes. 
> 
> Disclaimer n°3: I'm sorry for 'forcing' Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte characters on you, they're my second favorite team (I'm italian). At first I didn't want to use them, but then I saw c/l & v/m dancing together in the foi2018 finale, and then Anna posted a picture of the four of them on Instagram, so I just couldn't help myself. But don't worry, other 'canon' ice skaters will come soon.


End file.
